This invention relates to apparatus and methods for providing one or more chemical compositions useful to treat, e.g., clean, multiple pieces of equipment. More particularly, the invention relates to apparatus and methods for automatically providing one or more chemical compositions useful to treat multiple pieces of equipment in which the compositions are provided at controlled time rates so as, for example, to automatically satisfy the different requirements to effectively treat the different pieces of equipment.
Various pieces of equipment, such as storage tanks, pipelines, stationary equipment and the like, require periodic treating, e.g., cleaning, acidifying, sanitizing and the like, to be in good working order. This is particularly true in food processing plants and pharmaceutical production facilities. Since much, if not all of the process equipment used is stationary or permanently in place, the treating of this equipment is done with the equipment in place. The systems which perform the treating operations are commonly known as clean-in-place units.
Franklin U.S. Pat. No. 4,915,119 discloses very useful systems for treating a piece of equipment. This system, which is preferably portable, that is can be moved from one area to another area to treat a piece of equipment permanently located in each area, employs an automatic processor to control the sequence of treating a piece of equipment.
In general, the Franklin system is very effective for treating a single piece of equipment, and represents a substantial advance in the "clean-in-place" art.
The pumps specifically disclosed in Franklin U.S. Pat. No. 4,915,119 provide the chemical composition or compositions to the piece of equipment to be treated at a constant time rate, that is at a constant volume per unit time. When it is desired to treat another piece or equipment after the first piece of equipment has been treated, the operator manually adjusts the pump or pumps to provide that the time rate provided by the pump or pumps satisfies the requirements of the new application. This manual adjustment is time consuming, imprecise, and subject to human error. It would be advantageous to provide a clean-in-place system which automatically adjusts the time rates at which the treating composition or compositions are provided to the piece or pieces of equipment to be treated.